LINE’s internet calling service goes live on Android, starting at 2 cents per minute
If you’ve been waiting to give LINE’s Call service a try, now’s your chance — so long as you live in the right country, anyway. Those using LINE’s Android app in Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Spain, Thailand and the US can dial most any phone number at rates that might well beat what their carriers would offer. Americans get one of the best deals: their calls start at 2 cents per minute using prepaid credit, and they can pay 70 cents per month for an hour’s worth of talk time. The Chinese will get a similar bargain when Call reaches them in the near future, and LINE-to-LINE conversations are always free. There’s no iOS support yet, but we wouldn’t be shocked if the corresponding app update arrives relatively soon.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: TechCrunch
Source: LINE, Google Play
Amazon’s streaming device is reportedly a dongle with gaming support in tow
We’ve been hearing rumblings about Amazon’s set top box plans for quite a while now, and according to the folks over at TechCrunch, that gadget more closely resembles Google’s Chromecast. The possibility of a USB-style product should come as no surprise given the popularity of the aforementioned $35 option and Roku’s recent release. In addition to the dongle form factor, the report also suggests that the device will feature support for streaming PC games in order to compete with the likes of Xbox, PlayStation and Steam for all types of living room content consumption. The gaming aspect is said to closely resemble a service like OnLive, which allows cloud-based streaming. Details are scare in terms of titles, but the library has been tipped to include “top-tier games” beamed from Amazon at 30fps. This reported union of the online retailer’s set top and console plans comes just days after a controller broke from cover and weeks out from a report that gaming plans were alive and well.
Source: TechCrunch
Larger iPhone 6 May Cause Massive Spike in Upgrades, Lure Android Users
Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6 is widely rumored to include a larger display, which could encourage a significant number of users to upgrade in 2014, according to analyst Brian Marshall of ISI Group, who released a note to investors today.
Echoing past iPhone 6 rumors, Marshall suggests Apple will release two versions of the phone, one with a 4.7-inch screen and one with a 5.5-inch screen. The launch of two phones, both of which offer a total redesign of the existing 4-inch iPhone 5s, could spark a massive upgrade cycle.
Apple’s current installed base is estimated to be at 260 million users, and ISI Group calculates that half of today’s iPhone purchases are made by upgraders, users who are upgrading their iPhones from an existing iPhone to a new version of the product.
ISI indicates that while the upgrade rate (percentage of installed base upgrading devices in a given quarter) was at 10 to 11 percent in 2011–2012, it has now dropped to approximately 9 percent because users have fewer reasons to upgrade with the iPhone 5c and 5s not introducing any significant design changes.
Peak quarters have seen upgrade rates of 12 to 14 percent, and ISI expects a similar upgrade rate during the second half of 2014 when the iPhone 6 is launched, resulting in a higher number of sales. An iPhone 6 with an increased screen size may also lure customers who have switched to Android from the iPhone because of the latter’s lack of a large display.
“Large-screen envy” is prevalent among the iPhone installed base and we believe a ~5” form-factor iPhone would spark a massive upgrade cycle as well as many “Android switchers” returning back to the iPhone (we refer to this as the “mother lode” of all Apple upgrade cycles).
Citing both “large-screen envy” and “pent-up demand” ISI Group suggests the new iPhone 6 models could result in an extra $3.00 earnings per share following release in the second half of 2014.
Higher demand for an iPhone during a redesign year is not unreasonable, as it has now been two years since the 2012 introduction of the iPhone 5. While the iPhone 5s included multiple internal improvements and the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, it retained the same 4-inch display and design of the iPhone 5, as did the iPhone 5c, which was just a repackaging of the existing model.
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Apple Drops Windows 7 Boot Camp Support in New Mac Pro
Apple’s Mac Pro only supports installations of Windows 8 or later with Boot Camp, according to an updated Apple Support document that lists versions of Windows compatible with the 2013 Mac Pro.
Boot Camp Assistant on the Mac Pro also specifies that it only includes support for Windows 8 or later, as evidenced in a screenshot from Twocanoes Software (via MacWindows) indicating that users are not able to install earlier versions of Windows. The 2013 Mac Pro is the first Mac that does not include support for Windows 7 with Boot Camp 5.
It is unclear why Apple has chosen to drop support for Windows 7 on the Mac Pro, but it could be a sign that the company intends to discontinue support for the operating system in future Macs given its advanced age.
This decision may not sit well with users, as Windows 8, released in 2012, has not been particularly popular. As of this month, Windows 8 and 8.1 only represented 10.68 percent of total worldwide OS market share, while Windows 7 represented 47.31 percent. Combined, Windows is installed on 90.84 percent of the world’s computers.
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Amazon App Store Celebrating 3rd B-Day with Lots of Deals
Did you know that Amazon has a plethora of Android apps in their app store? Oddly enough not many people do unless they happen to also own a Kindle Fire of some sorts. The Amazon App Store for Android has actually been around, as of March 22nd, for 3 years. The Android app to access this store is FREE. While not everyone loves it, there are few things to look forward to everyday, like the free app of the day.
In celebration of the Amazon apps store for Android, Amazon is having an app store party. For the next two weeks various apps will go on sale, some of which will be up to 60% off. They will also have some of those in-app purchase deals. As an added bonus, if you take advantage of a few of the in-app purchase deals in games like Asphalt 8, The Hobbit, Sonic Dash and many others, you will get 50% pack in the form of Amazon Coins.
If you don’t have the Amazon App Store for Android app, you can get it directly from Amazon. It is required to be able to snag any of the deals that are going on.
A few deals we see today for the celebration include:
- Man of Steel by Warner Bros. On sale for $1.99, down from $4.99.
- Terraria by 505 games. On sale for $2.99, down from $4.99.
- Batman: Arkham City Lockdown. On sale for $2.99, down from $5.99. (Kindle Fire Edition)
Feel free to poke around
Sprint turns on 4G LTE in 20 New Markets
This morning Sprint has announced an expansion in their quest for 4G LTE coverage. Their goal is cover 250 million people with their 4G LTE coverage by the middle of this year. With this expansion going live today in 20 new markets, they are well on their way. Are you the lucky recipient of a data speed increase in your area? Check out the list and find out.
Arkansas
- Hot Springs
Arizona
- Nogales
California
- Bakers Field
- El Centro
- Visalia/Porterville
Connecticut
- Bridgeport/Stamford/Norwalk
- Willimantic
Florida
- Sarasota/Bradenton
Iowa
- Mason City
Illinois
- Peoria
Nebraska
- Omaha
New Jersey
- Ocean City
- Trenton/Ewing
Ohio
- Zanesville
Oklahoma
- Shawnee
Pennsylvania
- Lancaster
- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
South Carolina
- Myrtle Beach
Utah
- Provo/Orem
Wisconson
- Kenosha
The addition of these markets doens’t just benefit Sprint customers. It also trickles down to their two prepaid brand, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. I would assume it would also affect Republic Wireless as well since they piggy back on Sprints network too.
Sprint Spark Now Live in Provo Utah and Trenton New Jersey
A second dose of Sprint news was laid ever so nicely at our feet in their latest network press release. In the release we found out that 20 new 4G LTE markets have bee activated, they also let loose that Provo Utah and Trenton new Jersey also now have access to Sprint Spark and HD Voice services.
Sprint Spark is the newest data technology that Sprint is slowly building out. It is an enhanced LTE service that has speed peaks of 60Mbps. Assuming you have a Spark enabled device, the Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy Mega, LG G2, Nexus 5 and the HTC One max were mentioned as supported devices in January. The Samsung Galaxy S5 will also support it as well.
Provo Utah gets HD Voice today too. HD Voice offers a cleaner, clearer calling experience. Trenton will be getting HD Voice access soon, just not today.
“Sprint’s all-new network is providing our customers significantly better call quality and faster data speeds in more places,” said John Saw, chief network officer at Sprint. “Customers in Provo and Trenton will be particularly pleased with the power of Sprint Spark – say goodbye to slow downloads and content that lags.”
The launch of Spark in Provo and Trenton brings the Spark capable locales to 18. Those include some cities in Texas and Florida. Along with New York City, L.A. and Chicago.
MIT’s bionic plants could be used as energy factories and sensors
In many ways, plants are ideal technology hosts — they’re outdoor-friendly, self-healing and pollution-free. It only makes sense, then, that MIT scientists want to harness that potential by augmenting our leafy friends with nanotechnology. The researchers have found that injecting nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes into a plant can extend its natural abilities, or add functions that would be tricky to replicate with purely synthetic devices. One lab test supercharged photosynthesis, extracting much more energy than normal; another introduced gas sensors that could detect the nitric oxide from a car’s exhaust. There’s a lot of necessary refinement before bionic plants are practical, but we won’t be surprised if our gardens eventually double as energy sources and air quality monitors.
Filed under: Science
Via: Wired
Source: MIT
Hatchi turns your Pebble smartwatch into a virtual pet
For many of us who survived the ’90s, virtual pets are but a distant memory. That said, the Tamagotchi just turned 17 and Bandai (its parent company) is still cranking out new pets, so apparently the digital species is far from extinct. It makes complete sense, then, that the concept would eventually make it to the Pebble; in fact, its black-and-white e-paper display should make virtual pets feel right at home. Developer Portable Pixels is celebrating Game Developers Conference (GDC) by launching Hatchi on the Pebble appstore sometime this week. Much like the Tamagotchi, you’ll be responsible for feeding, cleaning, playing with and caring for your new Hatchi pet.
In addition to Hatchi, Pebble is heading to GDC to announce two popular smartphone games, Mr. Runner and Icon Pop Quiz, are now available in the appstore. The former (shown above) is a side-scrolling runner game in which you have to avoid getting squashed by walls that come crashing down; the latter is, well, a quiz that features visual clues.
So why does a smartwatch company like Pebble have so much interest in a gaming conference? “We’re excited to see what games can be created on the platform,” evangelist Myriam Joire tells us. “Our goal at GDC is to build awareness with game studios that Pebble is a cool platform on which to develop mini and casual games.” While Pebble boasts over 2,000 apps in the appstore, it views games as an “emerging category,” implying that the company feels a need to strengthen its selection. The good news is that at least clones of Flappy Bird and Tetris seem to be thriving in this ecosystem (they’re two of the top three games in the appstore), so perhaps all Pebble needs is a few more recognizable titles to give it the boost in gaming that it’s hoping for.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Mobile
Google Hangouts outage brings chatting to a halt
If you’ve been having trouble with Google Hangouts today, you’re not alone. The chat service has been experiencing issues, and the folks in Mountain View have confirmed the “service disruption.” According to the Apps Status Dashboard, Google Talk and Sheets (spreadsheets) are having down time of their own, but there’s no confirmation on the latter two applications. We’re keeping an eye on things, and we’ll be sure to update when more details become available.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Google
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